CHANGING SEX/GENDER ROLES AND SPORT Ronald S. Katz* and Robert W. Luckinbill** This Article argues that sex/gender roles in sport have resulted almost entirely from stereotypes rather than from analytical thinking. This situation has created unfairness and discrimination that have been highlighted by the rising trend of gender fluidity. The Article makes a proposal to remedy this unfairness and discrimination. The Article first traces sex/gender roles in sport before the passage in the United States of Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, which the courts have interpreted as applying to women in sport. As the participation of women in sport expanded in the twentieth century, pressure built to end the inferior treatment of women. With the passage of Title IX came the start of tremendous progress. This Article further explores how, despite this progress, stereotypes have still retained influence in sport. The so-called Contact Sport Exemption (CSE) to Title IX, for example, exempted such major revenue-producing sports as football and men’s basketball from the requirements of Title IX. The Article maintains that the CSE makes little sense in an era of increasing gender fluidity. With regard to intersex or transgender athletes, the CSE offers little guidance on questions such as whether a person transitioning from male to female could play on a women’s field hockey team or whether a person transitioning from female to male could play on a football team. The Article reviews the attempts of sporting organizations, such as the International Olympic Committee and the National Collegiate Athletic Association, to deal with intersex and transgender athletes. The Article argues that the attempted solutions fail because they are not scientifically based, they are invasive, and/or they do not take into account Title IX. The Article then proposes a workable solution based on the following principles: (1) separate but equal teams by sex/gender are permissible; (2) where there is only one team in a sport, females may try out for traditionally-male teams like football and males may try out for traditionally-female teams like field * Ronald S. Katz, who is Chair Emeritus of the Institute of Sports Law and Ethics at University of the Pacific and has taught sports law at Santa Clara University Law School, is Of Counsel at GCA Law Partners LLP in Mountain View, California. In 2016, he was a Distinguished Careers Institute Fellow at Stanford University. He is a co-author of SPORT, ETHICS AND LEADERSHIP, which will be published by Routledge in July 2017. ** Robert W. Luckinbill is a Partner with GCA Law Partners LLP in Mountain View, California. 215 216 STANFORD LAW & POLICY REVIEW [Vol. 28:215 hockey; and (3) the definition of “sex” is either the sex at birth or the sex with which the individual identifies for all purposes (i.e., not just for sports). INTRODUCTION ....................................................................................................... 216 I. GENDER FLUIDITY TODAY .............................................................................. 218 II. SEX/GENDER STEREOTYPES IN SPORT PRE-TITLE IX .................................... 220 III. TITLE IX AND THE CONTACT SPORTS EXCEPTION THAT DISPROVES THE RULE ......................................................................... 223 A. The Circuitous History of Title IX ........................................................... 224 B. The Mysterious History of the CSE, and Its Unconstitutional Effects .... 225 IV. FAILED ATTEMPTS TO SOLVE THE PROBLEM ............................................... 227 A. Renée Richards ......................................................................................... 227 1. Richards v. United States Tennis Association ..................................... 227 2. Organizational Policies Following the Richards’ Case ...................... 231 a. USTA ............................................................................................... 231 b. International Olympic Committee ................................................... 232 c. International Association of Athletics Federations .......................... 234 d. National Collegiate Athletic Association ........................................ 235 B. Dutee Chand ............................................................................................. 236 C. Caster Semenya ........................................................................................ 239 V. PROPOSED LAW AND POLICY FOR A MORE GENDER-FLUID ERA .................. 240 CONCLUSION .......................................................................................................... 243 INTRODUCTION When 1976 Olympic decathlon gold-medalist Bruce Jenner announced his intention in 2015 to transition to the female sex with the name Caitlyn,1 the transition raised numerous legal and policy issues. This article will explore those issues as well as the interaction between sex/gender and sport more generally. What, for example, would and should have been done by the Olympic authorities had Bruce transitioned to Caitlyn before 1976? Would she have competed as a male or a female, and why? Sport has struggled with sex/gender2 for centuries, and the struggle has not become any easier now that sex and gender are becoming more fluid, as discussed in Section I below. The history of that struggle prior to the enactment 1. Buzz Bissinger, Caitlyn Jenner: The Full Story, VANITY FAIR, July 2015. 2. “The term ‘sex’ refers to characteristics that distinguish between male and female. In contrast, the term ‘gender’ refers to the psychosexual individuality resulting in part from the societal manner of rearing (boy versus girl). Thus, whereas ‘sex’ considers what is male and what is female, ‘gender’ considers what is masculine and what is feminine. The two terms are often (incorrectly) used interchangeably.” Jill Pilgrim, David Martin & Will Binder, Far from the Finish Line: Transsexualism and Athletic Competition, 13 FORDHAM INTELL. PROP. MEDIA & ENT. L.J. 495, 497-98 (2003). The authors will use these terms by their dictionary definitions, as appropriate, but caution that some cited material may incorrectly interchange the terms. 2017] CHANGING SEX/GENDER ROLES AND SPORT 217 of Title IX will be briefly reviewed in Section II below to illustrate how stereotypes, rather than reasoned analysis, have been unduly influential in law and policy in this area. As the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) has stated, contrary to those stereotypes, “[t]he assumption that all male-bodied people are taller, stronger, and more highly skilled in a sport than all female-bodied people is not accurate.”3 The 1972 passage of Title IX4 (reviewed in Section III below), began a new era of exponentially increased female participation in sports.5 But in sports, most post-Title IX analysis has been binary in terms of sex/gender (i.e., not recognizing athletes other than male or female). Therefore, it is not surprising that relevant case law, statutes, and customs have been based on this binary view of human beings. Moreover, the Contact Sports Exemption (CSE) to Title IX6 continued the use of stereotypes under a slightly different guise. Sporting organizations, courts, and legislatures have struggled mightily to create fair and rational rules in an era of greater gender fluidity. Section IV below will explore some of those struggles, none of which have provided a workable protocol because of one or more of the following flaws: they are invasive, they do not have a generally accepted scientific basis, and/or they fail to take Title IX into consideration. Section V will then propose an appropriate protocol based on three principles: 1) separate but equal teams are permissible; 2) where there is only one team in a sport, females may try out for traditionally male teams, like football, and males may try out for traditionally female teams, like field hockey; 3) the definition of “sex” is either the sex at birth or the sex with which the individual identifies for all purposes (i.e., not just for sports). The proposal, consistent with U.S. Supreme Court rulings, seeks to eliminate the sex/gender stereotype in sports once and for all, while continuing to preserve the rights that Title IX granted to women.7 3. NCAA OFFICE OF INCLUSION, NCAA INCLUSION OF TRANSGENDER STUDENT- ATHLETES 7 (Aug. 2011), https://www.ncaa.org/sites/default/files/Transgender_Handbook_2 011_Final.pdf [hereinafter NCAA POLICY]. 4. 20 U.S.C. § 1681; Overview of Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, 20 U.S.C. § 1681 et. seq., U.S. DEP’T. OF JUSTICE (Aug. 7, 2015), https://www.justice.gov/crt/ overview-title-ix-education-amendments-1972-20-usc-1681-et-seq. 5. NAT’L COAL. FOR WOMEN & GIRLS IN COMPETITION, TITLE IX AT 40: TITLE IX AND ATHLETICS: PROVEN BENEFITS, UNFOUNDED OBJECTIONS 7 (2012), http://www.ncwge.org/P DF/TitleIXat40.pdf. 6. 34 C.F.R. § 106.41(b) (2010). 7. The proposal treats all non-binary sex/gender categories similarly; the proposal is uniform whether one is transgender like Renée Richards or intersex as Dutee Chand and Caster Semenya are presumed to be. 218 STANFORD LAW & POLICY REVIEW [Vol. 28:215 I. GENDER FLUIDITY TODAY Until the late twentieth century, almost all people in Western societies were categorized by their sex, in other words as either male or female.8 Now however, more people than ever before are undergoing sex reassignment or categorizing themselves by their gender identity rather than their sex. A sign of society’s